RUSSELLVILLE, Ark. — Haley Owen and Hunter Eshnaur combined for 24 kills and Sarita Stegall added 44 assists as the Arkansas Tech women's volleyball team turned back Northwestern Oklahoma 3-0 Saturday afternoon to stay unbeaten in Great American Conference play.
The Golden Suns (15-5, 9-0 GAC) topped the Rangers (6-13, 4-5 GAC) by scores of 25-19, 25-22, 25-22 at Tucker Coliseum to run their current winning streak to nine matches overall, and 18 consecutive regular-season conference matches dating back to last season.
"I thought we played well this weekend, especially offensively," coach Kristy Bayer said. "We do need to work on our defense and defending the first-ball kill off of serve receive, and I think we could pick up on our communication a little bit.
"We also wanted to say thanks to the community and the students, who continue to support us all season and gave us great crowds, especially over our fall break."
Eshnaur tallied 13 kills to lead the team, hitting .303 with an ace and seven digs in the win. Owen added 11 kills on .455 hitting, making it two straight matches and three of the past five where she's posted double-digit kills. Stegall notched at least 40 assists for the eighth time this season, just the second time in a three-set match. Katie Huff added 12 kills, including six in the final set of the afternoon, and Madison Nagel had a solid defensive effort with 20 digs.
"Our outsides, Haley and Hunter, did great tonight," Bayer said. "Also, I thought Madi had a breakout game tonight. She was really aggressive defensively and she was all over the court. There's little things we still need to work on to get ready for conference matches next weekend though."
Tech came out on fire, hitting .415 in the first set while never trailing. Stegall fired an ace on the first serve of the match, and an Eshnaur kill made it 3-0 right off the bat. Two straight kills from Huff broke a 5-all tie. After the Rangers pulled back within one, the Suns scored six of the next seven points, with two kills from Stegall in the mix, to lead 13-7. The guests would get no closer than three points back the rest of the way, as two kills from Huff and one from Stegall made it 21-15, two NWOSU errors pushed it to 23-17, and back-to-back kills out of Eshnaur ended the set.
The second set didn't start as smoothly for the Suns, as the Rangers took their first lead of the match at 3-2. They scored four straight points to make it 7-3, then another three-point spurt to go up 10-4. A four-point run kickstarted by kills from Owen and Eshnaur pulled Tech back to within two, and the two sides traded the next 16 points. Still trailing at 20-17, the Suns got a kill from Kaylee Konsella and a solo block by Stegall around a Northwestern error to tie things up, and a Huff kill and another NWOSU error made it 22-21 and gave Tech its first lead since going up 2-1. Tied again at 22-all, Huff picked up a kill, Stegall and McCall Wilkins teamed up for a block, and Stegall ended the set with a kill to go up 2-0 in the match.
The third set ended with the same 25-22 score, but didn't feature the same comeback for the Suns, who led wire-to-wire. Kills from Huff and Eshnaur got the hosts off to a 2-0 lead, and a pair of kills from Wilkins and one from Huff helped a four-point run that made it 7-2. Three straight finishes from Konsella, Huff and Owen pushed the lead to 13-5, and Tech would lead by eight again at 17-9. The Rangers would find a way to climb back into it though, pulling it to 22-18 and even as close as two points at 24-22. A kill from Huff made it 23-18, and finishes out of Eshnaur pushed the lead to 24-20 and ended it with the final kill of the day.
Tech hit .280 on the day, including the .415 mark in the opening set. The Suns held NWOSU to .217 hitting, including hitting .154 in the third game.
The Golden Suns are back in Tucker Coliseum Tuesday, hosting Lyon College and Central Baptist in a tri-match beginning at 3 p.m.
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